Drinking attachment for a drinking vessel and drinking vessel with such attachment

Abstract

A drinking attachment (10) for drinking vessels (12), comprising a funnel-like circumferential drinking rim (14), which is open towards the drinking vessel (12), having a fastening section (16) for fastening the drinking attachment (10) to an edge region of the drinking vessel surrounding an opening of the drinking vessel (12), and a bowl-shaped elastic sealing disc (20), which can be inserted into the drinking rim (14) for sealing the drinking rim (14), the sealing disc (20) abutting circumferentially against the drinking rim (14) in the region of the end of the drinking rim (19, which is free in the intended mounting state of the drinking attachment (10) on a drinking vessel (12), while forming an interstice (22), which is open towards the drinking vessel (12), and being designed in such a way that it can be partially lifted from the drinking rim (14) by a suction action of a user of the drinking attachment (10), in order to open a passage to the interstice (22), the sealing disc (20) having in the region of its bottom an outwardly projecting circumferential flange (26), which is designed to come to rest on the edge surrounding the opening of the drinking vessel (12), the drinking rim (14) being provided with a clamping flange (32) projecting towards the sealing disc for clamping the flange (26) of the sealing disc (20) against the edge of the opening of the drinking vessel (12) upon fastening the drinking attachment (10) on a drinking vessel (12), wherein the flange (26) of the sealing disc (20) is provided with a number of openings (28) to the interstice (22) and wherein the clamping flange (32) ends in front of the openings (28) provided in the flange (26) of the sealing disc (20).

Claims

1. A drinking attachment for a drinking vessel comprising: a funnel-like circumferential drinking rim, which is open towards the drinking vessel, having a fastening section for fastening the drinking attachment to an edge region of the drinking vessel surrounding an opening of the drinking vessel, and a bowl-shaped elastic sealing disc, insertable into the drinking rim to seal the drinking rim, wherein an air inlet passage is formed between the drinking rim and the sealing disc, and is further formed in a region of the sealing disc that abuts circumferentially against the end of the drinking rim, wherein the sealing disc abuts circumferentially against the drinking rim in the region of an end of the drinking rim, which is free in the intended mounting state of the drinking attachment on the drinking vessel, forming an interstice open towards the drinking vessel, and is formed so that the sealing disc can be partially lifted from the drinking rim by a suction action of a user of the drinking attachment in order to open a passage to the interstice, wherein a bottom area of the sealing disc has an outwardly projecting circumferential flange, which is designed to come to rest on an edge surrounding the opening of the drinking vessel, wherein the drinking rim comprises a clamping flange projecting towards the sealing disc to clamp the flange of the sealing disc against the rim of the opening of the drinking vessel when attaching the drinking attachment to the drinking vessel, wherein the flange of the sealing disc comprises a plurality of openings to the interstice, and wherein the clamping flange ends in front of the openings provided in the flange of the sealing disc.

2. The drinking attachment according to claim 1, wherein the sealing disc is provided with a plurality of stiffening ribs, each of the plurality of stiffening ribs being provided between a pair of the plurality of openings.

3. The drinking attachment according to claim 2, wherein the ribs are arranged on a side of the sealing disc facing the drinking vessel in an intended mounting state.

4. The drinking attachment according to claim 1, wherein the fastening section is integrally formed on the drinking rim.

5. The drinking attachment according to claim 1, wherein the drinking rim comprises at least two separate components, one of the at least two separate components forming the fastening section.

6. The drinking attachment according to claim 5, wherein the drinking rim has a drinking section made of silicone, thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), or polypropylene (PP).

7. The drinking attachment according to claim 6, wherein the fastening section is made of a material having a higher stiffness than the drinking section.

8. The drinking attachment according to claim 1, wherein the sealing disc is made of silicone.

9. The drinking attachment according to claim 1, wherein the fastening section has an internal thread configured to be screwed onto a corresponding external thread of the drinking vessel.

10. The drinking attachment according to claim 9, wherein the fastening section is designed in such a way that an air inlet passage is formed between the external thread and the internal thread.

11. The drinking attachment according to claim 1, wherein the air inlet passage between the drinking rim and the sealing disc is constructed in the form of a circumferential thread or as a gap-type or a labyrinth-type seal.

12. The drinking attachment according to claim 1, wherein the sealing disc has a slot-type seal in the bottom area of the sealing disc.

13. A drinking vessel with a drinking attachment according to claim 1.

14. The drinking attachment according to claim 10, wherein the air inlet passage between the external thread and the internal thread is constructed in the form of a circumferential thread or as a gap-type or a labyrinth-type seal.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

(1) FIG. 1 shows a sectional view through a first embodiment of a drinking attachment according to the invention mounted on a drinking vessel.

(2) FIG. 2 shows a plan view of the side of the sealing disk of the embodiment according to FIG. 1, which in the intended mounting condition faces the drinking vessel.

(3) FIG. 3 shows schematically the flow processes when using the drinking attachment according to FIG. 1.

(4) FIG. 4 shows a sectional view similar to FIG. 1 through a second embodiment of the drinking attachment, in which the fastening section and the drinking rim are formed by two parts.

(5) FIG. 5 shows another version of an invented sealing disc in side view.

(6) FIG. 6 shows the sealing disc according to FIG. 5 in a perspective view diagonally from below.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(7) FIG. 1 shows a sectional view through a drinking attachment according to the invention designated in its entirety by 10 and the upper portion of a corresponding drinking vessel 12, here in the form of a drinking bottle, which is provided on its edge region surrounding the opening with an external thread onto which the drinking attachment 10 is screwed in the depicted condition. For this purpose, the drinking attachment 10 has a drinking rim 14 with a fastening section 16 with an internal thread that is partially complementary to the external thread of the drinking bottle 12.

(8) In this embodiment, the fastening section 16 merges into a funnel-shaped drinking section 18 integrally formed therewith, which is open towards the drinking vessel.

(9) Inserted in the drinking rim 14 is an essentially bowl-shaped elastic sealing disc 20, which abuts against the drinking rim 14, or more precisely against the drinking section 18 in the area of its free end, in a circumferential manner, forming an interstice 22 open towards the drinking vessel 12. The term free end here refers to the end or the end region that faces the user when mounted on a drinking vessel.

(10) The sealing disc 20 is designed in a manner known per se in such a way that it can be partially lifted from the drinking rim 14 respectively from the drinking section 18 by a suction action of a user of the drinking attachment, so that a passage to the interstice 22 is opened for the user. This lifting is facilitated by a number of nubs 24, which in this example are formed on the side of the sealing disc 20 facing the drinking section 18. It goes without saying that these nubs can also be formed on the drinking rim or drinking section. Instead of nubs, other suitable spacers can also be provided, e.g. short rib-like projections.

(11) The sealing disc 20 is in the area of its bottom further provided with a circumferential flange 26 projecting outwards, which is designed to come to rest on the edge surrounding the opening of the drinking vessel 12. This flange 26 is provided with a number of openings 28 connecting the interstice 22 with the inner space 30 of the drinking vessel 12.

(12) The flange 26 interacts with a circumferential clamping flange 32 protruding from the drinking rim 14 to the sealing disc 20 in the transition area between fastening section 16 and drinking section 18. The clamping flange 32 can be formed on the drinking section 18 or on the fastening section 16 or be present as a component arranged between the fastening section 16 and the drinking section 18.

(13) A special feature according to the invention is that this clamping flange 32 ends before the openings 28 provided in the flange 26 of the sealing disc 20 and thus does not obstruct the passage of liquid from the drinking vessel 12 through the openings 28 into the interstice 22 and from there into the mouth of the user when drinking. The sealing disc can also be inserted into the drinking rim 14 without having to pay attention to a special alignment of the openings 28 to any openings on the drinking rim side. When screwing the drinking attachment 10 onto the drinking vessel 12, the sealing disc 20 is reliably secured by means of the clamping flange 32.

(14) In this embodiment, the sealing disc 20 *also has a number of stiffening ribs 34, which are formed in the bottom area of the sealing disc 20 in such a way that each lies lie between two openings 28 respectively. The stiffening ribs 34 ensure advantageously that even when children play with the sealing disc 20 while drinking, it cannot simply be pulled out of the clamping between the clamping flange 32 and the upper edge of the opening of the drinking vessel 12.

(15) FIG. 2 shows a plan view of the side of the sealing disc 20 facing the inner space of a drinking vessel when installed as intended. The spacers designed as nubs 24 and the openings 28 formed in the flange 26 as well as the stiffening ribs 34 formed on the sealing disc 20 can be clearly seen, whereby for reasons of clarity only a few of the nubs, the openings and the stiffening ribs were provided with reference signs. Depending on the design of the drinking attachment, it is advantageous to provide the central area 36 of the sealing disc 20 with a slot seal, i.e. to cut it diagonally or in a stepped manner such that a slot is formed between two slot flaps, which is closed in the initial state but through which air can flow in when a negative pressure is created in the inner space of the vessel by the removal of liquid upon drinking, because the slot flaps open. However, in the embodiments shown here, the flow of air into the inner space of the vessel is ensured by an air inlet passage acting in the manner of a labyrinth-type seal, which will be described later.

(16) FIG. 3 shows a drinking attachment 10 and a part of a drinking vessel 12 according to FIG. 1 in a drinking situation. Not shown is a user who can easily detach the sealing disc 20 from the drinking rim 14 by lightly sucking on the area of section 40 of the sealing disc 20, whereby, through holding at an angle, liquid can then flow through the openings 28 in the flange 26 of the sealing disc 20 into the interstice 22 as indicated by arrow 42 and from there into the mouth of a user. In order to prevent the creation of a negative pressure in the drinking vessel, which would impede the outflow of liquid, the internal thread of the drinking rim 14 is designed in such manner that between the internal thread and the external thread of the drinking vessel 12 an air inlet passage is created, which acts like a labyrinth-type seal, through which air can flow into the vessel as indicated by arrow 44, without there being any danger that liquid, which is more viscous than air, could escape. The arrow must be understood as a schematic explanation. In fact, the air can follow the thread between the male and female threads, which are designed in such a way that their reciprocal flanks do not engage in a completely sealing manner.

(17) FIG. 4 shows a second example of a drinking attachment designated in its entirety by 10 in a sectional view analogous to the view of FIG. 1 in a state mounted on a drinking vessel 12. The sealing disc 20 corresponds to the previously described sealing disc, so that a repeated description of it can be skipped. An essential difference to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is the two-part design of the drinking rim 14, in which the fastening section 16 and the drinking section 18 are formed by two separate components, which are latched together in this embodiment, for which purpose the drinking section 18 has a receptacle for the clamping flange 32 integrally formed on the fastening section 16, which receptacle encompasses the same to such an extent that a part of the drinking section 18 lies between the clamping flange 32 and the flange 26 of the sealing disc 20 when the sealing disc 20 is inserted as intended into the drinking rim 14. This embodiment advantageously allows choosing a different material for the drinking rim 18, in particular a softer material than for the fastening section 16, which can lead to a particularly pleasant drinking feeling.

(18) FIGS. 5 and 6 show another embodiment of a sealing disc 20 according to the invention, which essentially corresponds to the sealing disc 20 already described above, so that a detailed repetition of the corresponding description can be skipped. This sealing disc also has a number of stiffening ribs 34, a flange 26 in which a number of openings 28 are formed, and nubs 24, which facilitate the lifting of the sealing disc area, which, when assembled as intended, abuts against the drinking rim in the area of its free end.

(19) A special feature of this embodiment is the thread 46, which is provided in the sealing disc's area, which in the intended mounting state abuts circumferentially against the free end of the drinking rim forming an air inlet passage and, by extending the flow path, enables air to flow into and out of the drinking vessel, while liquids are prevented from escaping the vessel via the passage thus formed. Thread 46 can be designed as a circumferential thread groove or as a circumferential thread projection. The area of the drinking rim against which the thread 46 rests is even. It goes without saying that instead of the thread 46 shown, it is also possible to provide labyrinth-type threads or otherwise shaped threads, as long as these achieve the desired effect. An advantage of the air inlet passages formed in such way is that they can be produced directly during the manufacture of the sealing discs or, if an air inlet passage is provided between an external thread of a drinking vessel and an internal thread of a fastening section, during the manufacture of the vessel and/or the fastening section, without requiring a separate machining or manufacturing step.

(20) Within the scope of the inventive idea, numerous modifications and further variations are possible, which concern e.g. the design of the clamping flange on the drinking rim and the flange on the sealing disc. Instead of the round openings shown, elongated slotted openings can also be provided in the flange of the sealing disc. Instead of the shown stiffening ribs, it is also possible to provide a circumferential bead and to provide it with openings to the interstice between the sealing disc and the drinking section.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

(21) 10, 10 drinking attachment 12 drinking vessel 14, 14 drinking rim 16, 16 fastening section 18, 18 drinking section 20, 20 sealing disc 22 interstice 24, 24 nub 26, 26 flange 28, 28 opening 30 inner space of vessel 32, 32 clamping flange 34, 34 stiffening rib 36 center region of sealing disc 40 section of the sealing disc 42 flow arrow 44 flow arrow 46 thread (air inlet passage)